In-situ Neutron Scattering System Now Operational Down Under

The first user experiment with the gas handling and sorption system supplied to the Bragg Institute by Hiden Isochema has now been performed.

We were a little slow on the uptake with this one, but a news item last month on the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) website announced the first user experiment with the gas handling and sorption system supplied by Hiden Isochema:

We are delighted to see that the system, which was funded in part by the Australian Government’s 2009 Super-Science Initiative, is now in use by ANSTO and is available to the Bragg Institute’s neutron user community.

In the first user experiment, the Hiden Isochema system was used on the WOMBAT high-intensity powder diffractometer. Interestingly, the in-situ gravimetric sorption analyzer (the IGAn) that we supplied to the ISIS neutron source here in the UK is also primarily used on neutron powder diffractometers (in that case, GEM and HRPD).

In principle, neutron powder diffraction is much the same as standard laboratory X-ray powder diffraction, but in the neutron case it is possible to exploit their unique scattering properties in order to study phenomena that are difficult to observe with X-rays. The penetrating nature of neutrons also means that sophisticated sample environment, such as sorption measurement systems coupled to high pressure sample cells (to pick an entirely arbitrary example), can readily be used, while the somewhat random nature of the scattering strength of different elements, as a function of atomic mass, in contrast to that of X-rays, means that in certain cases they are particularly useful for studying the behaviour of light elements in the presence of heavier ones. This is particularly well exemplified by the widespread use of neutron scattering to study hydrogen in materials.

If you would like to learn more about Hiden Isochema’s gas and vapor delivery and measurement systems for in-situ neutron scattering experiments, please do not hesitate to get in touch.